AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What are you gonna do? Do you want to try to fight me, Williams?”
The groan of frustration that comes out of me sounds like anything but myself, but every second counts and she is making this longer than it should be.
“Why are you making this so difficult? Nathan said-”
“Nathandoesn’t make the final decisions. Bianco does, and he put this fight together. Do you think I want to watch Jake risk his life tonight? I do what I’m told, that’s how you survive outside of that rose-colored glasses world of yours.”
“Stop,” I snap at her. “Stop talking to me like I’m this privileged girl when you know that’s not the way I grew up. You know my life is shit in Stoneview, my mom just got out of jail for fuck’s sake.”
“And that wasn’t even Jake’s fault! You accused him when it was one of your bitchy friends from your bitchy preppy school. Fuck you,” she snorts. “You think you can dress like a slut and that means you fit with the North Shore girls here? You think that’s what we’re all reduced to? You’re not like us, you don’t know what it’s like to fight every fucking day for the right to exist because someone else might take it from you. And you don’t know what it’s like to watch your back all the time, to be forced into the life of petty gangs and stupid crimes just because you know there is no other way.”
She shakes her head. “Jake and I know that. We share a strength that you guys never will.”
She turns around and searches through her bag on one of the benches behind her. “I really don’t fucking get him,” she keeps talking as she searches. “I never asked anything from him but a good fuck. But he was so adamant to hurt you. And yeah, fuck, I fell for it because when he shows you his sweet side it’s impossible not to.”
I gulp, my stomach twisting when I think of the sweet things Jake might have said to Billie. Maybe some he never said to me, maybe the same. Both make me feel sick.
“But his heart was never in it,” she says as she turns around. She’s got something in her closed fist, but I can’t see what it is. “He’s just too fucking in love with you for that.”
She opens her fist and presents her palm to me. The gold necklace Jake had given me for Christmas is shining from the industrial light. That night, he told me he was in love with me for the first time. And it felt like the realest thing I ever felt.
“How-what-where?” I stutter as I grab it tightly in my hand.
“He keeps it on his nightstand. I took it earlier.”
My heart breaks all over knowing she was at his place. She must see the pain in my eyes because she keeps going.
“I was only there for support. He was in pieces after your argument, he was dead inside when Bianco told him he had to fight here. He loves you, Jamie.You. No one else.” She shakes her head again. “And only God knows why, you’re nothing special.”
My throat constricts knowing Jake has kept the necklace. That means he went to look for it in the yard that night after he tore it off of me. He’s been holding on to me as much as I’ve been to him.
“I think that’s the thing with love, Billie,” I rasp. “It doesn’t take someone special, just the right person.”
“I don’t like you,” she confirms. “It’s shit that bitchy girl sent your mom to jail. It’s fucking annoying cause now I can’t even hate you knowing you two had to steal to survive.”
It makes me chuckle. “Yeah, how unfortunate.”
There’s a short silence before she points at a door opposite from the one we came in from.
“He’s about to get on, you better hurry.”
I don’t think, I just sprint to the other door.
He’s sitting topless on a bench, his back to me. I don’t need the X tattoo between his shoulder blades to know it’s him. I know those muscles by heart. The way they tense when he makes love to me and tries to hold himself back. The way they bulge under my weight when he picks me up and throws me over his shoulder.
He’s got his elbows on his thighs, his hands hanging between his legs and his head bowed.
He’s already defeated. I can sense it from here.
The man in front of him was talking to him when I walked in, but he stopped as soon as I stepped inside and is now looking at me.
“Wrong door,” he snaps at me in a broken voice, like his vocal cords are damaged. He’s much older than Jake, old enough that he could be a dad.
“Jake.” My whisper is just as broken as Jake looks. Emotions are begging to be let out, fears taking over, anxiety poisoning my veins.
It’s like his ears perk up at the sound of my voice. His back straightens like a rod, his muscles tensing. He gets up and turns to me, fury painting his beautiful features.
“What the hell are you doing here,” he hisses.
